Maryland Casualty Company v. King

1963 OK 95, 381 P.2d 153, 1963 Okla. LEXIS 363
CourtSupreme Court of Oklahoma
DecidedApril 23, 1963
Docket40022
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 1963 OK 95 (Maryland Casualty Company v. King) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Oklahoma primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Maryland Casualty Company v. King, 1963 OK 95, 381 P.2d 153, 1963 Okla. LEXIS 363 (Okla. 1963).

Opinion

BERRY, Justice.

The parties, who appear here in the same relative position as in the trial court, will be referred to herein as they appeared in said court.

In so far as material, plaintiff alleged in its petition that in September, 1956, it executed, as surety, a performance and maintenance bond in which Color Rite Concrete Company, a corporation, hereafter 'referred to as “Color Rite”, was principal and Bartlesville Land and Development Co., hereafter referred to as “Land Co.”, and the City of Bartlesville were obligees; that by the terms of the bond Color Rite and plaintiff “agreed to construct and maintain in good repair paving in the 5th Addition to Pennington Hills Addition to (Bartles-ville) in good condition for a term of five (5) years” from date of bond; that a copy of the bond was attached to the petition as “Exhibit A”; that prior to May, 1960, the paving had deteriorated; that on said date the named obligees made demand upon Color Rite and plaintiff to comply with the provisions of the bond by repairing the paving; that Color Rite “wholly defaulted in the terms, conditions, and obligations of the bond” ; that plaintiff complied with the demand; that it expended $8,794.50 in “repairing and maintaining” the paving; that defendant and Color Rite entered into a written agreement, a copy of which was attached to the petition as “Exhibit B”, by the terms of which defendant agreed to furnish ready-mix concrete for use by Color Rite in performing its contract with the obligees of the bond; that defendant warranted that the concrete furnished by them would meet the specifications imposed by Bartlesville which were that the “concrete must have a minimum breaking strength of three thousand five hundred (3,500) pounds per square inch” ; that the concrete furnished by defendant did not meet conditions of the specifications in that the breaking strength thereof was less than 3,000 pounds per square inch; “that it had a high and excessive amount of shale in the course aggregate, which materially weakened the structural strength of the concrete, and subjected it to rapid and accelerated deterioration” ; that plaintiff was subrogated to the rights of Color Rite and Bartlesville “for the recovery of damages which they might be entitled to recover because of (defendant’s) breach of express warranty or implied warranty in furnishing materials for the concrete paving.” In its first cause of action plaintiff sought to recover from defendant $8,749.50 as damages resulting from defendant’s breach of the alleged express warranty. In its second cause of action plaintiff sought to recover the mentioned amount as damages resulting from defendant’s alleged breach of implied warranty as to fitness of concrete furnished.

*156 Defendant interposed a demurrer to plaintiff’s petition which was based on proposition that (1) facts alleged failed to state a cause of action, and (2) that facts alleged showed a “defect of parties plaintiff”.

It appears that the demurrer was sustained upon the grounds first above mentioned. Plaintiff requested leave to amend its petition in certain particulars, which request was granted. Defendant then renewed that portion of its demurrer which was based upon proposition that facts alleged in petition as amended failed to state a cause of action. This demurrer was sustained. Upon plaintiff’s electing to stand upon the allegations of its petition as amended, its actions were dismissed. From order of dismissal, plaintiff perfected this appeal.

For reversal plaintiff contends that (a) “The contractor who buys ready-mix concrete, and the city for whom a street is being paved has a cause of action against a materialman for damages sustained as a result of breach of express warranty, and a breach of implied warranty of fitness,” and that “Surety on a contractor’s bond is sub-rogated to all rights and causes of action of its principal and to all rights and causes of action of’the obligee of the bond.”

Defendant counters the contentions of plaintiff and submits that these questions are presented: “First, was Color-Rite, the other party to the King Color-Rite contract which was alleged to have been breached and for which breach Maryland sought a personal judgment, a necessary party? and Second, does the petition of Maryland for money judgment against King for his alleged breach of contract to which Maryland was not a party, state a cause of action ? ”

In view of the fact that the demurrer to the petition as amended was based wholly on the proposition that facts alleged therein did not state a cause of action, defendant is not in a position to here urge that there was a defect of parties plaintiff. See A. Helm & Son v. Briley, 17 Okl. 314, 87 P. 595, where it was said in the second paragraph of the syllabus that “Under the requirement of the Oklahoma statute that a demurrer shall specify distinctly the grounds therefor, a question of defect of parties, which is made a ground of demurrer, cannot be raised under a general demurrer alleging simply a want of facts sufficient to state a cause of action.”

Since the conclusion reached herein will necessitate trial of the case below, we point out that on repeated occasions we have held that the “real party in interest” is the one entitled to the proceeds of a claim and that one who has only a nominal, formal or technical interest in. the claim is not a necessary party. See Schmidt et al. v. Nash, 203 Okl. 21, 217 P.2d 830 and McMahan et al. v. McCafferty, 205 Okl. 656, 240 P.2d 443. From the facts, pleaded it appears that plaintiff and not Color Rite was the real party in interest and that plaintiff could therefore maintain its-action against defendant without making; Color Rite a party.

Defendant argues that it was incumbent upon plaintiff to clearly and distinctly state facts in its petition which would establish its asserted right to subrogation;, that plaintiff failed to attach a copy of its contract with Bartlesville and Land Company which allegedly provided that the concrete should be of a stated strength therefore, plaintiff did not state a cause of action in its petition.

As pointed out, it is stated in “Exhibit B” that defendant agreed to furnish concrete-“as per City of Bartlesville specifications”' and plaintiff pleaded that under said specifications the minimum breaking strength of the concrete must not be less than 3,500" pounds per square inch. It follows that, defendant is in effect arguing that failure on plaintiff’s part to attach a copy of Color-Rite’s contract with Bartlesville and Land Co., which would show the mentioned specifications, resulted in a cause of action not being stated (we assume in plaintiff’s first cause of action) in the petition as amended. Failure to attach a copy of the contract did *157 not render the petition subject to demurrer. See Grady et al. v. First State Bank of Hartshorne et al., 143 Okl. 268, 288 P. 481, and cited cases. Moreover, the second cause of action was not based upon the alleged warranty in the written contract between defendant and Color Rite.

As indicated, defendant argues that there was no privity between defendant and Bar-tlesville or Land Company and defendant is not liable to latter for breach of contract with former; that since there was no privity of contract, plaintiff has no cause of action as Color Rite’s surety against defendant. We are unable to agree.

In Fourth Nat. Bank of Tulsa v. Board of Com’rs of Craig County et al., 186 Okl.

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Bluebook (online)
1963 OK 95, 381 P.2d 153, 1963 Okla. LEXIS 363, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/maryland-casualty-company-v-king-okla-1963.